Abdul Basit

Turkey is offering one of the best citizenship options in the world with $250,000 investment in real estate, and that’s the reason house sales to foreigners recorded all-time high figures during the first seven months of 2019.

The process is very simple, and it takes a couple of months to get Turkish Citizenship, and there is no timeframe to stay in the country for citizenship as well.

The real estate investment required by foreigners who want to be Turkish citizens has been reduced from one million dollars to $250,000 since September 19, 2018, informed Salih Ozer, Attaché of Culture and Information, Turkey to the UAE, during an exclusive interview to The UAE News in his office in Dubai.

Ozer added that investors who do not withdraw their investment or deposits in banks for three years or who do not commit to selling the real estate purchased for three years are given the right to become a Turkish citizen for life.

“If you buy a real estate of $250,000 the citizenship is given to you. High-income Middle Easterners and Gulf countries citizens are interested in the practice both with the low amount and with the common Islamic culture,” he said.

The housing market continues to enjoy a great deal of interest from foreigners so far this year, with Istanbul their favourite location and Iraqis as top buyers.

Turkish developers continue to enjoy increasing demand from foreign buyers in the housing market. As a result, real estate sales to foreigners posted the highest-ever figures in the first seven months of the year. Foreigners became new owners of 24,144 houses in the January-July period, resulting in a rise of 64.5% year-on-year, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data released recently. They purchased some 14,674 units in the same period of 2018.

As for July, sales were up 46.7% and hit 4,192 – the highest-ever July figure – up from 2,858 units sold in the same month last year.

Earlier, foreigners acquired some 3,168 units in January, 3,321 units in February, 3,129 units in March, 3,720 units in April, 3,925 units in May and 2,689 units in June with a year-on-year increase of 81.9%, 92.1%, 71.3%, 82.1%, 62.5% and 30.5%, respectively. All six months saw all-time high figures.

In the seven-month period, foreigners became new owners of 4,857 houses in Antalya, 1,360 in Ankara, 1,217 in Bursa, 988 in Yalova, 703 in Sakarya, 534 in Trabzon, 479 in Mersin and 468 in Muğla.

The rank among nations also did not change over the course of the year so far. Iraqis maintained their position as top buyers, acquiring some 4,071 houses in the first seven months, followed by Iranians with 2,666 units, Russians with 1,479 units, Saudis with 1,312 units and Afghans with 1,150 units. – abdulbasit@theuaenews.com